In a step to promote organ donations in the state, the Karnataka Health Department has decided to equip all district hospitals and medical colleges in the state to harvest organs from donors. A Deputy Director, additional staff and 20 organ transplantation organisers will be newly appointed for the State Organ Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO). In addition to this, training will be imparted to the hospital staff, a recently issued government order said. Other than coordinating organ donations in the state across various hospitals, SOTTO will also maintain a waiting list of patients needing donated organs.
A government official who did not wish to be named said, “Till now, we did not have an official body of SOTTO, but we were functioning like an ad-hoc department under the Jeevasarthakathe programme. With this new dedicated administrative staff, we will be able to function better. This is being done as per the policy guideline by the National Law School to have an official body for organ donation.”
The official added, “With more administrative staff, more government hospitals will be made part of this organ donation pool. Currently only a few government hospitals in the state have licenses to harvest organs.”
According to officials, as COVID-19 cases are decreasing in Karnataka, the number of donors is increasing in the state. In 2019, there were 105 donors. From January to March 2020, during the pre-pandemic time, the state saw 25 organ transplants, while nine more took place in the past two months.
TNM in August had reported how the COVID-19 crisis had resulted in shortage of organ donors, which in turn led to deaths of patients who needed organ donations to survive. Doctors had then said acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patients were the most affected as they might not have any eligible donors among the near family members. At that time, officials had said that more than 3,000 patients were awaiting kidney donations alone.
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Karnataka govt to appoint dedicated staff for organ donation facilitation
Karnataka to now have dedicated staff for organ donation facilitation
Blurb: The Health Department has also decided to equip all district hospitals and medical colleges in the state for organ harvesting.
In a step to promote organ donations in the state, the Karnataka Health Department has decided to equip all district hospitals and medical colleges in the state to harvest organs from donors. A Deputy Director, additional staff and 20 organ transplantation organisers will be newly appointed for the State Organ Tissue Transplant Organisation (SOTTO). In addition to this, training will be imparted to the hospital staff, a recently issued government order said. Other than coordinating organ donations in the state across various hospitals, SOTTO will also maintain a waiting list of patients needing donated organs.
A government official who did not wish to be named said, “Till now, we did not have an official body of SOTTO, but we were functioning like an ad-hoc department under the Jeevasarthakathe programme. With this new dedicated administrative staff, we will be able to function better. This is being done as per the policy guideline by the National Law School to have an official body for organ donation.”
The official added, “With more administrative staff, more government hospitals will be made part of this organ donation pool. Currently only a few government hospitals in the state have licenses to harvest organs.”
According to officials, as COVID-19 cases are decreasing in Karnataka, the number of donors is increasing in the state. In 2019, there were 105 donors. From January to March 2020, during the pre-pandemic time, the state saw 25 organ transplants, while nine more took place in the past two months.
TNM in August had reported how the COVID-19 crisis had resulted in shortage of organ donors, which in turn led to deaths of patients who needed organ donations to survive. Doctors had then said acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) patients were the most affected as they might not have any eligible donors among the near family members. At that time, officials had said that more than 3,000 patients were awaiting kidney donations alone.
Read: Karnataka witnesses acute shortage of organ donors amidst COVID-19 pandemic